Protesters seek higher minimum wage

WORCESTER — Walmart and other employers need to pay better wages and give employees access to earned sick time, protesters said Wednesday at a rally in front of the retail giant's store on Tobias Boland Way.

About 35 people gathered at the entrance and advocated for higher wages and better working conditions, including access to earned sick time. Lily Huang of Quincy, a member of Jobs for Justice, the group that organized Wednesday's statewide rally, said polling for paid sick time actually rates higher with people than a hike in the minimum wage. She said people don't want to have to choose between going to work sick or not being able to pay their bills.

Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, said most Walmart employees getting paid a minimum wage is a common misconception.

In Massachusetts, he said, the average wage of a full-time hourly associate at Walmart is $13.86. He also noted that the majority of Walmart employees are full time.

Mr. Lundberg said less than 1/2 of one percent of all Walmart associates earn minimum. Walmart's pay is comparable to other retailers; it has to be to stay competitive, he said.

Additionally, Mr. Lundberg said 75 percent of of the company's management team started out as hourly associates, and said every year, 160,000 associates are promoted into jobs with higher pay and responsibility. He said every year, 75,000 associates go from part-time to full-time.

The rally Wednesday was part of Jobs for Justice's Raise Up Mass. campaign, which is pushing to get measures hiking the minimum wage and requiring employers to provide access to earned sick time on the November 2014 ballot.

"I can't begin to tell you how this makes my juices flow," said Khrystian King, a local union leader who is also running for state representative in the 16th Worcester district. "Whatever happened to the American dream?"

He said it used to be that working hard enabled people to provide for their families.

"We need to raise the minimum wage," he said.

Christopher Horton, a member of the Worcester Unemployment Action Group, said the real unemployment rate is actually around 25 to 30 percent, and he noted that when people do go back to work, it's often for half the pay they were earning before they were laid off. Workers need to come together for fair wages, he said.

There were honks of support and friendly waves at the rally, but not everyone was convinced of the argument for a higher minimum wage.

Aaron Przelomski of North Grafton walked through the rally crowd and unloaded his cart in the parking lot. He waved his arms at the bags of goods he just picked up.

"All the prices of the stuff I bought would go up," if the minimum wage were raised, Mr. Przelomski said.

He said his 20-year-old daughter was already making more than minimum wage. She started working when she was 18.

"Somebody should get paid what they're worth," he said.

Massachusetts is among a handful of states that has a minimum wage above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. The minimum wage in Massachusetts is $8 an hour.

Proponents argue that a higher minimum wage would help struggling families and the economy at large, but employer groups say businesses may be forced to lay off workers if they have to pay higher wages.

A bill to push the minimum wage up to $11 an hour by 2015 is pending in the Legislature and has the support of state Rep. James J. O'Day, D-West Boylston, among others. Senate President Therese Murray has encouraged debate on the issue.

At a hearing last month, the business group Associated Industries of Massachusetts asked lawmakers to study the impact of raising the minimum wage before passing new laws.

"Increasing the minimum wage has the perverse effect of limiting opportunity for young and lower-skilled workers and pushing jobs out of the market," Bradley A. MacDougall, AIM's vice president for government affairs, said at the time.

W. Stuart Loosemore, director of government affairs and public policy for the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, said a nine-person committee of chamber members has started discussing minimum wage issues but has yet to vote on a position.

"With policies like minimum wage, we need to be mindful of the impact they have on small businesses," Mr. Loosemore said. "That's where the conversation is going to start."

Also Wednesday, members of 1199 Service Employees International Union staged an informational picket of Essex Nursing Homes in front of West Side House on Fruit Street. According to the union, the action was an effort to get a more realistic proposal as it negotiates a new contract.

The union said Essex offered the union just a half percent raise in the second year of the proposed contract. That would force members to make "difficult choices between rent, food and utilities," the union said in a press release.

In a statement in response to the union, Essex called the union demands unrealistic in light of federal cutbacks in Medicare reimbursements and Medicaid payments. It also said the union pushed to cut employees to give wage increases to remaining workers.